~~ The Kraken supposedly attacked ships long ago, and many
people think it is still out there. Is The Kraken real? Or is it
just encounters with miss identified creatures all strung
together over thousands of years? Perhaps it was a real creature.
Or maybe it's something we have yet to discover…

What is the Kraken?
The Kraken is supposedly a large squid/octopus type monster
that is big enough to grab, hold, and sink small-ish sailing
ships. Reports of this monster go back to the twelfth century in
Norway. The Kraken has been in many books of the ocean, like "The
Natural History of Norway" published in 1752 by Erik Ludvigsen
Pontoppidan. Something similar to The Kraken in Greek mythology
is Scylla a sea monster with six heads.
To this day we don't know much about the ocean. Even after
thousands of years, less than five percent has been explored. One
example of this is the goblin shark. Only a handful of photos
have been taken of this rare creature that dwells on the bottom
of the ocean.

Is it Possible?
While sceptics will fight for where they stand on the topic,
more evidence is coming up that this beast may not be so
unrealistic.
The giant squid are just like they sound, giant squid. There
scientific name is Architeuthis dux, and they were thought to be
the largest squid until colossal squid were found. Giant squid
certainly aren't small, they can reach up to 42 feet from the top
of the mantel to the tips of the long feeding tentacles, and
Weigh 1,984 pounds. But generally they are 10-30 feet in length
and weigh 1,003 pounds on average. They live in the deep ocean
waters in places around the world. But they are abundant in a few
places, one of them being Norway. "Because of their nervous
system and large brain, they are of great interest to scientists,
because they have never been observed in their natural habitat
until very recently, little is known about their behavior and
interaction. They are believed to be solitary hunters; and only
individual giant squids have been caught in fishing nets."
("Giant Squid, Architeuthis dux" ~ MarineBio.org) (I have altered
the quote a little bit to enhance fluency.)
Colossal squid yet hard to believe, are even bigger than giant
squid. And contrary to some opinions are an entirely different
kind of squid. The colossal squid's scientific name is
mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, and are the largest known squid
reaching lengths of up to 46 feet, with a mantel 7-13 feet
across, and weighing 3,307 pounds. The colossal squid lives over
3,281 feet down in the depths around the Antarctic Ocean. "These
amazing creatures were first identified in 1925 when 2 colossal
squid arms were recovered from a sperm whale's stomach. Since
then, few specimens have been recovered and there is still very
little known about this species. Colossal squids have eyes that
measure about 25 cm in diameter which are thought to be the
largest eyes in the entire animal kingdom. They also have the
largest beaks of any squid, which makes them a fearsome predator
along with the 25 rotating hooks found in two rows on the ends of
their tentacles." ("Colossal Squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni" ~
MarineBio.org.)

The Evidence
There is an article on nbc news, about a fossilized beak
belonging to a giant cephalopod (squid or octopus) that is
believed to be of the Triassic period. Click here if you would
like to read the article.
The Kraken could be real because the ocean is 95% un-explored and
way too deep for us to go to all the way to the bottom. Besides
that, we have seen strange things on underwater cameras, divers
have seen things, and so have people on land. Whether it was the
kraken or just a misidentified object, people have been seeing
things. And you can't just put off all people as crazy. Although
they don't look like normal squid, Humbolt squid are known to be
very aggressive towards divers and have almost killed quite a few
of them. They are also known to eat other Humbolts.
On the other hand, there are squid that live up to the size of
the Kraken (or close to), but none of them can come to the
surface or they will die. The colossal squid can't even come
above 3,000 feet. Juvenile colossal squid can come up to the
surface but they aren't even as big as giant squid. Also, there
aren't as many sightings of the Kraken as there are say, ghosts.
It is possible that there was one colossal squid that was big
enough to do that kind of damage, but if it went to the surface
it would die. It's more likely that a large squid got caught on
an anchor of one of these ships, and the crew, probably suffering
from lack of sleep, hunger, and being drunk among other things,
had thought it was much worse than just a squid stuck on the
boat. As a result, some of the crew might have jumped over board
and other crew members thought that they were eaten by the
Kraken.

Believer's .vs. Non-Believers
Believers in the unexplained believe with all their heart. As one
of the believers of the unexplained and supernatural, I know that
once you know something exists it's hard for anyone else to
change our minds.
Like people back in the 17 hundreds, some people still believe
that the Kraken is absolutely a reality. While others think that
they are just myths and stories
Wrap-Up
And as we wrap up this article I would like to remind you that
long story short, The Kraken is a monstrous squid that attacks
ships. Where it could exist, we do not have definitive proof that
it does.

A Little Bit About the Author
I think that there are a lot of mysterious things in this world,
even out of this world, and the Kraken may just be one of those
things we haven't found yet. Or it could have lived long ago and
it lives on in our minds, making us thing that bumping into a
rock is The Kraken coming to get us. But I just may be more
optimistic than other people, because I do believe in ghosts and
other things that many people have seen since the beginning of
time. --Jurnee .S. Atkinson